Canadian Pacific Railway halts operations after labour talks fail
BNN Bloomberg
One of Canada’s largest railways is winding down operations after failing to reach a labour deal with unionized workers.
One of Canada’s largest railways is winding down operations after failing to reach a labor deal with unionized workers.
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. entered a work stoppage early Sunday after the company and the union’s leadership were unable to negotiate a settlement or agree to binding arbitration, Canada’s Labor Minister Seamus O’Regan said in a statement posted to Twitter shortly after midnight.
“The work stoppage has begun, but CP and Teamsters are still at the table with federal mediators,” O’Regan said. “Parties are working through the night. We are monitoring the situation closely and expect the parties to keep working until they reach an agreement.”
The stoppage means CP can’t operate the railway and will create a “freight capacity crisis,” the railway said earlier this month in a note to its customers.
The disruptions threaten to further roil supply chains and exacerbate volatility in fertilizer markets at a time when farmers are already having trouble getting key nutrients for crops for spring plantings. Crop-nutrient prices have skyrocketed, fueled by a global shortfall and worries that potential sanctions on Russia could disrupt global trade. Canada, along with Russia and Belarus, is a major supplier of the world’s potash, a mined material used in fertilizers.
CP is the primary rail transportation provider for the delivery of Saskatchewan potash to overseas markets, according to the provincial government.
